


Without Good Protection Against Temptation

by zarabithia



Category: Captain America (2011), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: love bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-26
Updated: 2012-05-26
Packaged: 2017-11-06 01:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/413061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve does worship the gods. But he doesn't fear them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without Good Protection Against Temptation

The forests aren't exactly forbidden.

Many times, when there has been an attack in their small village, brave men have gone into the forests to fight off the attacks. Armies, some have said. Monsters, others claim.

Steve is too sick and frail, the elders have decided, to be have witnessed either for himself. For when the armies form and go into the woods, go to protect their village, Steve is not permitted to go with them. 

He wants to. He watches the men - and Peggy - go and he thinks that he should go too. But he cannot go against the village elders' wishes.

At least, he cannot go against them when it comes time for battle. But he can when it comes time for the great feasts.

Today, as they prepare to slaughter the pig, and Peggy, Howard and Bucky stand close together, Steve slips away, unnoticed. He makes his way to the edge of the village and to the large forest that surrounds it.

He doesn't think of the monsters Bucky has whispered in his ear late at night. He thinks, instead, of the monsters his mother told him about when she still lived. Frost Giants. Jotunheim. 

He doesn't hesitate. He might be frail, but he isn't a _coward_ , no matter what the elders may believe. He holds his head high as we walks through the forest, not resting until he comes to the middle.

The journey takes more of the breath that already comes in gasps, though he sits down triumphantly on an overturned log; for a few minutes, sitting is all his body will allow him to do. But when he can move again, he pulls out the drawing pad Bucky had given him for his last birthday and begins to sketch.

Because he is supposed to be terrified; he is supposed to be running as fast as the legs that the army doesn't want can carry him out of the forest. Instead, the inside of the forest is more beautiful than anything this side of Peggy dancing at the village feast. For all that the tree tops cloud together, great streaks of light make their way through as if Balder himself is shining a light through them, highlighting the creatures that scurry across the forest floor: bugs, large and small, birds that have never made their way into his small village, and other things that hide so skillfully in the shadows that Steve cannot fully see them, but his fingers ache to draw them nonetheless.

In the village, everything is plain and flat and _predictable._ Here, there are so many _things_ , and Steve's eyes do not feel big enough to capture them all, nor his fingers fast enough to draw them.

But he is in the middle of both, when a blast of wind threatens to knock him off the log he is perching on. He is certain, in that moment, that Thor himself has come to seek retribution for Steve's abandonment of the feast.

But after a moment, there is no sound of thunder, and the wind has died down enough that Steve can catch his breath. Then he looks up and sees the full measure of his mistake.

It's Thor's brother who stands before Steve. 

"My, my. Thor was right about one thing. You truly are more brave than your size would suggest," Loki informs him. 

"I'm not afraid of the forest," Steve says automatically, because that's what today's quest has been about.

"No, no. Of course you aren't. You're very brave, for a mortal, or so Thor has claimed." Loki comes closer, and Steve's mind swirls with all his mother's stories, about betrayal and being cast out of Asgard. 

He thinks of these things, and of the portraits and statues back in his village. None of them worship the god, for his village follows the ways of Odin and Thor. But they pay tribute to the God of Mischief, in order to keep him at bay, to drive him into the realms where only the armies dare to go. 

Excepting the helmet, cape and eyes, Loki does not look anything at all like what the tributes have portrayed. They're too pretty and too _new_.There's an oldness that clings to Loki as he sits next to Steve and slides his hand with presumed familiarity onto Steve's shoulders. In that moment, Steve feels a cold chill - as cold as Jotunheim must be, he thinks.

"I'm pleased to have been brave enough for the Mighty Thor to have noticed," Steve answers truthfully. Thor is the favorite of Bucky and Howard, for Thor favors those with strength and power, and Bucky and Howard have those in spades.

"Aren't they all," Loki answers lazily with an eyeroll that seems too petty to belong to a god. "But he can't see you now. You do realize that is what happens when you come to my realm, don't you, mortal? You are cloaked in charms. Even Heimdall's all seeing gaze cannot help you."

One cool hand slips under Steve's chin, holding him in place. Green eyes stare purposefully into Steve's, and Steve knows that he is supposed to cower under the power that the Trickster God wields. 

"Then I will have to survive without the help of Asgard," Steve answers defiantly, instead.

An unexpected laugh erupts from Loki. "Your blasphemy _pleases_ me, as much as your bravery pleases the oaf who claims to be my brother."

"It's not blasphemy," Steve asserts, because his mother certainly raised him better than _that._ "It's just the truth. If they're not here, I'm on my own. The gods respect the truth. All of them but you."

"All of them but me," Loki agrees, and for a moment, Steve wishes he _could_ still move, because the look in those eyes is predatory enough.

But he holds his gaze, and for a minute, Loki's smile curves into something approaching warmth. Steve thinks it must be the closest that the Frost Giant will ever come to it. 

Which seems rather sad. 

"Do you know what I do respect, mortal?" Loki continues, the tone of his voice matching his peculiar brand of mirth. 

"Mischief," Steve answers immediately, because hasn't he always been a good boy and poured over the stories of the gods, just as his mother wished?

"That above all else, yes, but there are other things." Loki tilts his head, and it is a small gesture, but up close, it seems much larger. "Cunning. The power of the mind in all its less than savory uses. Strategy, even, when used for something other than the boring blunders preferred by most of Asgard."

"I don't know why you're here, then," Steve answers bluntly. "Other than the fact that I intruded in your realm."

"That _is_ part of it, because regardless of what the ones in Asgard may think, I do appreciate a good streak of bravery, if only in different forms than they do," Loki acknowledges, as though he hadn't been dismissive of the concept only moments ago. "But it was not just bravery alone that allowed you to _sneak_ away from the feast they're holding in honor of Thor." 

"It wasn't anything anyone else couldn't have done," Steve denies, and he feels the slightest pinch of the god's fingers on his chin in response.

"I do like lies, of course. But unnecessary humility you can save for those from Asgard," Loki scoffs. "I've seen you, watching the others, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use their mirth and merriment against them. Very sneaky. Very _mischievous._ "

That isn't ... _exactly_ true. Sure, he has to wait until Bucky, Peggy and Howard are distracted, but it isn't as though it's hard. "My friends, they get very caught up in the festivities," Steve begins, and to his confusion, Loki laughs again, this time it's soft - not to be confused with gentle, Steve thinks - and holds more than a hint of mocking. 

"So noble that you can't even take credit for a battle you have won," Loki says with a slight shake of his head. "No wonder Thor likes you so much. You more noble than he can ever hope for." 

There's a defense built up on Steve's tongue, because after all, Thor is their protector, and Steve does not dash out of the feasts in order to avoid giving worship where it is due to the thunder god.

But his defense is silenced abruptly when Loki pulls him forward, with all the godly strength that can overpower even someone as big as Bucky, and certainly someone as small as Steve. Bits of various tales of Loki's mischief flash through Steve's mind and he expects anything but the kiss that follows. Steve's kissed before, of course, but Bucky's kisses are always rough, impatient, and leaving Steve gasping for breath (and Steve loves them that way) while this one is soft, lingering, and affects his knees far more than his lungs. 

"But this is just your first time. Perhaps your nobility is warranted, perhaps not." Loki pulls back and lets go, and Steve fights the urge to protest the action, because he has committed enough blasphemy for the day. "I suppose we will see what you are really made of if you repeat your journey, won't we?" 

Loki does not give Steve a chance to respond, before he disappears. It's then that Steve realizes that no matter his reasons for skipping the feast today, there will be a second time, and his methods will be much less pure than they have been today.

There's a low growl of thunder as Steve gathers his supplies and heads back to the feast, but he knows that it isn't going to be a deterrent for his future plans.

Because if nothing else, today has proven that Steve is not afraid of anything, including the gods.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for "infatuation" prompt at love_bingo.
> 
> Title comes from the following quote: _"There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice." ~Mark Twain_


End file.
